They both have such a unique and very different smell.
. One smells like a fresh plastic factory fresh celophane. As you remove the fresh plastic and open the case to take the first sniff it is like ripping through a portal into another dimension. It smells so strong of just all different untouched materials from the factory from fresh plastic to the scent of the disc. All the layers that make a game combine for one brand new, clean and intoxicating scent that gets stored in the case by the celophane. It smells incredible. The new game smell that we all know and love.
Or the oppisite.
. A vintage boxed atari 2600 game. 30+ years on its resume. Stored in an old man's attic, sold at a flea market on a table with floppy discs and vinyl records. Smelling like aged plastic and cardboard. vintage and musty. The scent of aged comic book pages. The smell of worn ink. Almost fruity. Like walking into an antique store. The smell of a worn but loved cardboard box with the unique scent every NES/Atari cartridge seems to have. Almost like they can tell a story through your nasal passages.
Which scent do you think is more incredible to smell. A fresh next gen game fresh out of its plastic housing. Or a aged cardboard CIB/ Cartridge with decades of history in it's scent?
For me it's really close but i love a vintage NES box. I love the smell of old paper or old cardboard and the aged pin connectors tend to smell unique and i can't even describe the scent. It smells like childhood, like retro gaming love that has endured the ages. It truly can't be remade or bottled.